Off to the side, Ron Prince politely listened to the question, then in one of those rare moments when the cameras were off with the 37-year-old still in the room, the first-year Kansas State head coach couldn't help himself: He chuckled. The question was simply this: What would it mean if Josh Freeman in just his second career start beat Nebraska on Saturday?

Prince loves compelling stories. Moments earlier, he said he wanted the story of K-State football to be told across the nation. A K-State true freshman slaying Husker nation? Such a notion years ago would have spurred snickers.

Now, it's a dead serious proposition.

Prince and Freeman are just days away from the 6:10 p.m. kickoff Saturday at a sold-out Bill Snyder Family Stadium. They could co-author another chapter to this K-State/Nebraska story packed over the years with dramatic game-winning heroes (Michael Bishop and Darnell McDonald, Jonathan Beasley and Quincy Morgan) and villains (Tommie Frazier, Lawrence Phillips and Eric Crouch) and dry spells (29-straight losses until 1998) and winning streaks (four-straight K-State wins in Manhattan since 1996).

Yes, Prince chuckled. His eyes twinkled. The gears turned. The coach, already seemingly so close to the kid, his kid, the 18-year-old prodigy, the new star on a squad where suddenly so much is new, took a moment. What would it mean?